I don't see where any of the statements above make sense with the proper
understanding of the terms.
What does height have to do with taking it early??
What does stance have to do with taking it late or hitting out front?

They also don't align well with Annacone's comment, where he used it correctly
about "on the rise" or "taking it early".....which has little to do with "hitting out
front."

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The comments were narrowly focused about the terms early and on the rise, and the claim that coaches never use them together.

It is not relevant to what you are saying. I already posted before and had at least one person agreeing with me that hardly anyone hits on the side, so I do not think hitting out in front is a meaningful advice.

That is the not the same as what was being discussed now, that somehow all coaches never use early and on the rise together.

Sureshs - nobody said that coaches don't use the terms "taking it early" and "on the rise" to mean the same or similar. You said hitting out in front is the same as taking it early, which in coach parlance it isn't.

Sureshs - nobody said that coaches don't use the terms "taking it early" and "on the rise" to mean the same or similar. You said hitting out in front is the same as taking it early, which in coach parlance it isn't.

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No, you said it right here:

For example, Sureshs uses the term "late" to describe the contact in relation to the ball (where a coach would use on the rise or on the drop)

The only way to read the sentence is to mean that a coach would use on the rise (instead of early) and on the drop (instead of late), the latter terms being what I supposedly used wrongly. I just proved you wrong.

Don't try to twist what you said by bringing in the hitting out in front issue.

Actually you didn't prove me wrong - I made no reference to the phrase early at all and was merely pointing out that your understanding of the term "hitting late" is likely not how it would be used by a coach (hence your disagreement with 5263).

oh, and you brought up the hitting in front issue and confused it with taking the ball on the rise/early - which I had already explained to you earlier was not the same thing thing (as one can hit the ball on the drop and still make contact in front)!

Actually you didn't prove me wrong - I made no reference to the phrase early at all and was merely pointing out that your understanding of the term "hitting late" is likely not how it would be used by a coach (hence your disagreement with 5263).

oh, and you brought up the hitting in front issue and confused it with taking the ball on the rise/early - which I had already explained to you earlier was not the same thing thing (as one can hit the ball on the drop and still make contact in front)!

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Whatever. You equated late with ball drop, which is the same as early with ball rise. Take it to an English teacher and let me know how she reads it.

And what I had said before is that you can stay back and give yourself more time, and yet the ball out in front, which is what you are saying again now. I did not confuse anything - you were just too eager to find some fault. Go back and read what I wrote - someone can stand back (and so let the ball drop) and still hit out in front. You say the same thing now and claim that I said the opposite.

Just saying that perhaps getting really rigid about a specific definition of a term is probably not the most helpful thing. More important I think is that we communicate and work to understand each other’s meaning, and soak up some of the really good bits that are freely and generously offered here.

Relative to early and late (and I’m just a rec player), with no other context given then I've generally understood the terms be in reference to the contact point. I have also heard the term hitting early to be used in reference to hitting on the rise, but generally there’s context within which to understand that. I have not really heard hitting late to reference hitting a ball after it’s crested and falling. However someone wants to use the terms, the concepts are the important thing for improving our games.

So I’m going to put energy in defending my contact point, because I’ve personally found that mental image very helpful for improving my game.

Where did this term "defend the contact point" originate? I don't find it with a casual search on google and bing, except references to this forum and the article with the same title which OP seems to have posted on another site.

I'm with you, it's relative to the plane of the body and the net. If it was just the plane of the body you could argue (like Sureshs is [I think?]) that every ball is hit in front, whilst this may be literally true, it is not what coaches mean in general.

When a coach references hitting out in front, he/she generally means that the contact is between the plane of the body and the net, as opposed to a late contact which would be behind the plane of the body.

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Sounds good. I was taking more into account the leverage you get from a proper hitting structure with arm position and grip and angular momentum more than the leverage you also get from behind physically behind the ball which is why I brought up the running forehand on the dead one situation.

Where did this term "defend the contact point" originate? I don't find it with a casual search on google and bing, except references to this forum and the article with the same title which OP seems to have posted on another site.

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I've seen the term used in several instructional videos online from various instructors.

I'm in mid fifties, and am listed as a 4.5 ntrp, and have won norcal 4.5 recently, and a prize money tournament last month. That's at 210lbs, against guys less than half my age, 60lbs less than me.

The truth is, if you put the implements in place, you will stop making so many ues, and have more confidence, be able to make fewer ues while going for a lot more.

It's simple: unit turn prep earlier, faster uncoils, and defend your contact arc point in front of your body according to the incoming ht. of the incoming shot. Let the shot determine how far in front you hit, and become a timing expert.